A Peak to Peak Charter School parent group is encouraging attendance at Thursday's board meeting to show support for Noelle Roni, the elementary principal who abruptly left at the start of the month.

Roni, who was in her ninth year as principal at the Lafayette school and has two children at the school, said she wants to return to Peak to Peak or, if that's not possible, repair damage to her reputation caused by the way her departure was handled.

While school officials declined to say if she was fired, she said she was terminated in a way that led to unfair speculation.

She said she was offered a buyout -- the balance of her salary through the end of the school year -- if she agreed to say she resigned and to "stay silent" about leaving. She said she didn't take the offer, which has since been rescinded. She said she also was told that the decision to fire her was final and supported by the school's board.

"I had no intention of signing this offer for it would have put me in a position of not being able to explain myself to the community I love," she said. "It would also prevent me from trying to undo the damage that continues to be waged on my reputation and character by the ongoing speculation."

Advertisement

She said she has been advised by her lawyer not to go into detail about what led to her leaving the school, but, "I believe that I was retaliated against for standing up for children's rights and against activities that stigmatized children."

She added that she was given no reason for her termination but was told it didn't have anything to do with her allegations of retaliation and adverse working environment. Instead, she said, she was told "the school needed to go in a different direction."

At a Peak to Peak board meeting last week, parents also indicated that she may have been ousted after complaining about a hostile work environment.

Sandy Ray, mother of a fourth- and eighth-grader at the K-12 school, is co-chair of Peak to Peak's accountability committee and said she attends nearly every board meeting. Near the end of the Oct. 16 meeting, Ray said last week, she was in the room when Roni brought forth a complaint about a hostile work environment. Roni requested that the matter, scheduled for a closed-door executive session, be handled in open session, Ray said.

"Right about then -- immediately, really -- (board member) Greg Richards turned to Noelle and, in a rather intimidating and angry tone, said, 'Noelle, do you realize that by requesting this to be in an open session this will become part of the permanent record and this will go into the minutes that you are saying you have a hostile work environment? Is that your intention?'" Ray said last week. "He continued, forcefully saying, 'She is your supervisor. When she reprimands you, that does not constitute a hostile work environment.'"

Ray said Roni told the board she had already addressed the issue in a closed meeting, and an open meeting was the only way she could get out her side of the story. Ray said that Richards was referring to Kelly Reeser, Peak to Peak executive director of education, when mentioning Roni's supervisor.

In an email, a Peak to Peak parent group urged parents to attend Thursday's meeting "to send a strong message that Peak to Peak parents must have a voice in the future of our school."

Parents also are continuing to push for an open meeting on Roni's dismissal. So far, 350 people have signed a petition asking for a meeting on the topic.

Thursday's meeting agenda includes a closed executive session to discuss legal matters, 15 minutes for public comment, time for the board members to comment, a discussion and vote on a request to produce executive session records, and an update on the transition and initial plan for an elementary principal search.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story